Brands
Britannia seeks to bring Smile to ‘Indian Guard of Honour’
MUMBAI: It’s World Smile Day on 6 October and Britannia’s flagship brand, Good Day, is celebrating the day with a new, heart- warming and soulful digital film.
It’s new film is a narrative by an Indian Guard of Honour stationed outside India Gate, and it captures a day at work – which requires him to remain solemn and unsmiling despite all the slice-of-life activities happening around him. The soldier is bound by his work circumstances to not smile, but at the end of every day, he reminisces the sights of the day and smiles broadly – which leaves the viewer wondering “What are my reasons not to smile more”?
The purpose of the film is to emphasise the importance of a smile in our everyday life, through the eyes of someone who can’t. The film has been conceptualised and executed by J. Walter Thompson (JWT), Bangalore.
The film has all the elements of humour, emotion and realism and is seen from the eyes of an Indian Guard. Motionless and un-smiling till his duty ends, he recounts the happenings of the entire day. The lady and her dog who are out for a walk, the child who competes with him on the mannequin challenge and the balloon seller who implores him to smile every day. All characters entertain him and even make him smile, but he holds back – because he is on duty. And every day, he waits for the moment when he is off duty and makes it a point to smile whole-heartedly.
JWT ECD Prita Shivakumar opines: “A brand that’s all about smiling more and celebrating the value of a smile through an unexpected and heartwarming story. A man who is compelled by virtue of what he does for a living, to withhold his smile. It’s only under such circumstances that you realise the value of that magical gesture – the human connection it forges and the goodwill it generates, all the more because a smile doesn’t expect anything in return.”
Britannia Industries VP – marketing Ali Harris Shere said, “We wanted to get people to realise they do not have any reasons not to smile and shouldn’t hold back – and to encourage this realisation we went on the opposite path to identify people who have reasons not to smile owing to their work regime, honour or commitment – the Indian Guard of honour being one of them.”
Brands
UK’s OnlyFans seeks US investor at $3bn valuation after owner’s death
The adult video platform is seeking stability after the death of its billionaire owner
LONDON: OnlyFans is looking for a new partner. The London-based adult video platform is in advanced talks to sell a minority stake of less than 20 per cent to Architect Capital, a San Francisco-based investment firm, in a deal that would value the business at more than $3bn (£2.2bn).
The move is driven by an urgent need for stability. Leonid Radvinsky, the Ukrainian-American billionaire who owned OnlyFans, died of cancer last month at the age of 43, leaving the future of one of Britain’s most profitable privately held businesses suddenly uncertain.
The choice of Architect Capital is not arbitrary. The firm has deep expertise in financial services, which aligns neatly with OnlyFans’ ambitions to offer banking products to its creators, many of whom have long struggled to access basic financial services because of the nature of their work.
The numbers behind OnlyFans are, by any measure, staggering. The platform posted revenues of $1.4bn in the year to 30th November 2024, with a pre-tax profit of $684m, up four per cent on the prior year. Payments to creators totalled $7.2bn over the same period, a rise of nearly ten per cent. Radvinsky personally collected $701m in dividends from the business in 2024 alone, on top of more than $1bn in such payments he had already received. The platform, run through its parent company Felix International, hosts 4.6m creator accounts, with performers keeping 80 per cent of subscription proceeds and the platform pocketing the remaining 20 per cent. It has 377m fan accounts in total.
The current minority stake talks represent a notable scaling back of ambitions. In January, OnlyFans was reported to be in discussions with Architect about selling a majority stake of 60 per cent. Before that, the company had explored a sale to a consortium led by Forest Road Company, a Los Angeles-based investment firm. Neither deal materialised.
OnlyFans has built an enormously lucrative business on content that mainstream finance has long refused to touch. Now, with its owner gone and a $3bn valuation on the table, it is looking for the kind of respectable institutional backing that might finally persuade the banks to take its calls.
